Orientating and carton filling device



y 6- J. A. LIDBERG ET AL. 2,

ORIENTATING AND CARTON FILLING DEVICE Original Filed Dec. 18, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 7, 1936- J. A. LIDBERGET AL 2,047,106

ORIENTATING AND CARTON FILLING DEVICE Original Filed Dec. 18, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jomv All/0556a. 6 05' m/S Gum/M56 I gmwms Patented July 7, 1936 ORIENTATING AND CARTON FILLING navrcn John A. Lidberg and Austin s. Chandler, Fitchburg, Masa, assignors to The Brown Bag Filling Machine Company, Fltchburg, Mass, a

corporation oi Massachusetts Original application December 18, 1931, Serial No. 581,981. Divided and this application June 7, 1935, Serial No. 25,519

2 Claims. (Cl. 198-20) This application is a division .of our application Serial Number 581,981, for Orientating and carton feeding devicespfiied December 18, 1931.

The invention. relates to article ordering or orientating devices and has for an object to present a new and extremely simple mechanism for effecting the ends in viewand which will function in a new way for the presentation of articles in a fixed position at a given point in a conveyor system.

A specific object of the invention is to present an attachment for a bag filling machine, whereby such machine may be inexpensively adapted to use in filling cartons with the same measuring and filling mechanism used on bags.

A further object is to offer a novel orientating device which is adaptable to use in positioning boxes or small articles such as candy tablets, cakes, or other objects and articles to be filled,

2o wrapped or packed. It is also an aim to present a novel form of buffer wheel for use in automatically adjusting boxes and other articles in proper i position for entrance to a work station.

Additional objects, advantages and features of 25 invention reside in the construction, arrangement and combination of parts involved in the embodiment of the invention as will be understood from the following description and accompanying drawings, in which 30 Figure 1 is a top view of the orientating device.

Figure 2 is a front elevation thereof.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional section on the line 3- -3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a cross section on the line 4-4 35 of Figure 1.

There is illustrated a portion of the main frame 10 of a standard form of bag filling machine well known in the trade as the Brown bag filling machine, principal details of, which are shown K 4 in the patent to Cummings, No. 539,171, and

others. The standard machine as marketed includes a main shaft H, which is utilized as the driving means for parts of the present invention.

A frame 16 is provided having legs 89 adapted 45 to set on the same bed as those of the standard machine. On this frame there is mounted a container-receiving conveyor-in the form of a very broad endless belt I! extending from the front of the machine at right angles to the main shaft. This belt is carried upon rollers 18, one of which is shown. .The upper reach of the belt moves inwardly, and at its inner part there is mounted closely over this broad belt a diagonal endless belt- 20 mounted on vertical right hand 55 and 1m hand rollers :2 and 2| located at op- 23, and this in turn drives by bevel gears or slightly more.

posite sides of the broad belt. The lower edge of the belt 20 rests on or is located closely over the top side of the belt 11. The right hand vertical roller 22 is nearest the charge forming machine, while the left-hand roller 21 is sufil- 5 ciently distant to position the front reach of the belt 20 in a plane atan angle of approximately 60 degrees to the line of travel of the broad belt. The roller 18 of the belt 11 is driven at its right hand end by spur gears 48-49 from the main is shaft H. I

The shaft 41 of the roller 18 at its left end is utilized to drive by bevelled gears a counter shagt 2 I the left hand vertical roller 2| of the diagonal 15 belt 20. The front reachof the belt 20 is backed by an angle plate 92 secured on the frame 16, one flange resting against the belt. By means of a bracket frame 54 an alley belt 24 is mounted on the frame It] at right angles to the belt 11 and 20 at the right of the latter, its upper reach moving toward the right. The rear wall 25 of the receiving alley 21 projects slightly over the belt l1 and is bevelled and slightly curved toward the alley at the left end so as to lie close to and as nearly 25 in line with the belt 20 as practicable. The front wall 35 of the receiving alley also extends over the belt 11 and is curved away from the belt 29 and. alley 2'1 slightly. On a suitable horizontally slotted plate 36 on the right hand side of the frame 16 there is a step bearing 3'1 supporting the lower end of a spindle 38 closely adjacent the righthand edge of the belt I1. On the lower part of the spindle over the bearing there is a pulley 39 located immediately above the level of the lower reach of the belt 24 while at the upper extremity of the spindle there is fixed thereon a planiform horizontal friction wheel 40, slightly above the belt l1 and projecting a distance thereover, its periphery spaced from the diagonal belt 49 20 a distance equal to the width of the alley 21, The wheel 40 is projected a short distance horizontally through the lower part of the front 'wall 35 of the. receiving alley 21 at the curved part of the wall, and through a curved extension 35' of the side wall'l4 beside the belt I1. The extension 35' serves to form a flared mouth for the alley 21 and is in effect a. continuation of the wall 35. The wheel 40 is provided with a friction facing 4| having clrcumferentially spaced prominences 42 at suitable intervals, these being in the form of arcuate radial enlargements or lobes. The lobes 42 project considerably through the outer part of the extension 35' but as the latter nears the alley 21 it approaches more nearly the major radius of the lobes 42, and the latter are clear of the alley 21 shortly after passing beyond the edge of the belt H. The wheel 40 is driven by a quarter-turn belt 43 from a pulley 44 on the shaft 41 of the roller l8, engaged on the pulley 39 so as to rotate the wheel 40 in a counter-clockwise direction, as viewed from above. The friction facing of the wheel is an elastic belt fitted tightly on the periphery of the body of the wheel. The wheel may be a simple circular disc and the belt may have the prominences 42 formed integrally thereon, as shown. The plate 36 is secured by a clamp nut 45 engaged on a stud 46 extending through the slot of the plate and fixed in a plane face of the right side of the frame IS, the plate being thus movable to permit adjustment of the wheel 40 toward and away from the belt 20 and back wall of the alley 21. The shaft 41 has a large gear 48 at its inner end and a smaller gear 49 meshed therewith is fixed on the left hand end of the main drive shaft II.

The alley belt 24 is operated at a more rapid speed than the belt l1, and the diagonal belt 20 also operates at a. greater lineal speed than the belt I'I.

Operation In operation, the machine being started the receptacles 15 to be filled are received bottoms down on the belt I! in any order. By this belt they are carried rearwardly and against the belt 20. Striking this they become adjusted with one side flat against the belt 20 and are rapidly carried in this position onto the belt 24 in the receiving alley 21 by reason of the forces frictionally applied by the belts l1 and 20. Some of the receptacles, however, become interposed between the belt 20 and parts of or corners of other receptacles, preventing the latter from passing into flat engagement with the belt 20, and a group in such order will occasionally move laterally toward the alley. Engaging the jigger wheel 40, however, its friction facing will turn the receptacles which engage it, causing them to adjust themselves quickly to the belt 20. As soon as a receptacle is engaged by the wheel 40 and moved substantially toward operative relation to the belt 20, the belt I! carries it away from the wheel 40, so that no further disturbance of the position of the receptacle will be caused by the wheel. In this way all receptacles are quickly alined with and entered in the alley 21. At the left (Fig. 2), the alley belt 24 passes around a roller 84 journalled in a yoke 85 having a tongue 86 slidably and adiustably secured in a suitable channel in the top plate 01 of the bracket frame. This top plate and the tongue 86 support the top reach of the belt. The mounting of the outer end of the belt ll (not shown) may be similar to the mount- 5 ing of the left end of the belt 24, or otherwise, as discretion dictates. The legs of the frame ,ll may be simple plates 89 having foot flanges or a common flange 90 as in Figures 2 and 3. The right hand end of the diagonal belt 20 is carried 10 by a split roller 22 comprising upper and lower sections, and an arm 9i (Fig. 3) is extended from the diagonal angle plate 92 and secured on the spindle 93 of the split roller between the sections of the roller. The other end of this plate 82 i5 is secured on top of the frame It, beyond the left edge of the belt H. The angle plate just clears the belt I! and has a vertical flange 94 at its front side lying against the inner side of the belt 20 as a support or buttress for the latter. 20

The invention is applicable to use in filling bottles, or the orientating of cakes or other articles of various kinds to be delivered to any succeeding mechanism. For the various adaptations to which it is suited, various parts may be omitted, 25 and proportions varied as discretion may dictate to meet the particular requirements of each case.

We claim:

1. An orientating device for polygonal receptacles comprising a first endless belt conveyor, 30 a diagonal stock-engaging element extending entirely across the first conveyor, a second conveyor extending at an angle from the first to receive articles from the side of the first conveyor and said diagonal element, a guide alley over 85 the second conveyor arranged to receive and slidably guide receptacles from the flrst conveyor,

a friction wheel mounted beside the alley adjacent the diagonal element having a concentric body portion spaced from the diagonal element 40 and the far side of the alley more than the width of the alley and having projections of a radius to stop short of the diagonal element and far side of the alley a distance equal to the width of the alley, and means to rotate the said wheel. 45

2. The structure of claim 1 in which said wheel is mounted with its concentric body portion beside the path of articles moved by the first belt and its projections movable over said first belt to engage articles on the first belt adjacent said 50 alley and distant from the diagonal element more than the width of said alley.

JOHN A. LIDBERG. AUSTIN S. CHANDLER. 55 

